Drying mechanism



July 5, 1955 J. E. vE'roRlNo f 2,71

DRYING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 13. 1955 Ffa. 2.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. I/ 70E/N0.

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United States Patent O DRYING MECHANISM Sioseph E. Vetorino, New Bedford, Mass., assignor to Hoyt Manufacturing Corporation, Westport, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 13, 1953, Serial No. 336,678

Claims. (Cl. 3482} This invention relates to a forced hot air drying mechanism and more particularly to tumblers and clothes driers.

In the interest of economy and efficiency, the industry in recent years has, in some cases, commenced arranging clothes driers in the form of banks and batteries, usually of two tumblers, mounted .in a unitary casing or enclosure and employing a single air heating and circulating mechanism for all the tumblers. Difficulty, however, has been encountered in the equal extraction of moisture from all of the tumblers, since, in some arrangements, the air has been led through one tumbler to the next. It is evident that with such an arrangement, the heated air becomes laden with moisture from the wet materials in the first tumbler, and consequently, extraction of moisture from the materials in the second tumbler is much less efiicient. Indeed, in some cases, where the moisture content of the clothes in the second tumbler is already low, additional moisture may be imparted to the same by the humid air.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes drying unit of the forced heated 3 air tumbling variety, including a plurality of tumblers, usually two, wherein eilicient drying may take place in all tumblers.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved drying mechanism of the type described in which freshly heated dry air may be led simultaneously, rather than successively, through all the tumblers in the unit, with approximately equal rate of ilow, but propelled by a single fan.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a multiple tumbler drying unit, of the type described, improved means for the collection of lint carried by the circulating air. l

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a multiple tumbler type of drier employing only a single fan in which effective drying operations may optionally be carried on in less than all of the tumblers.

According to the invention, I provide a clothes drier unit comprising a casing defining an interior chamber. A special baille divides this chamber into a plurality of separate drying compartments, preferably two in number, in each of which is rotatably mounted a perforate tumbler drum adapted to contain the clothes or other articles to be dried. In each of these compartments I mount an air heating unit adjacent an air inlet, so that air from the outside of the casing may pass through and be heated by the heating unit and thence through the respective perforate drum. Each compartment likewise has an exhaust opening, all of such exhaust openings being disposed adjacent each other and with a common exhaust fan juxtaposed across all the openings for drawing air simultaneously through the several drying compartments. Preferably, disposed across the exhaust openings I provide lint collectors in the form of wire mesh screens through which the air must pass to the fan and on the upper surfaces of which may collect any lint carmried by the moisture laden air. Cooperating with each lint collecting screen I rice provide a wiper which operates against the upper surface thereof, movable as desired to scrape the collected lint from the same and unclog the wire mesh. Optionally, the several tumbling drums may be driven by separate driving means such as individual electric motors or I may employ a common drive.

Still further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which .like numerals refer to like parts in the several views and in which:

Fig. l is a front view with portions broken away of my novel drier,

Fig. 2 is a side View, also with portions broken away, of the same, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, showing the lint collector.

My novel multiple drier is mounted in an upright casing which is divided by a pair of curved internal baffles 12-and 14 and auxiliary bailles 16, 16a, 18, and 18a into a pair of drying sub-chambers or compartments isolated from each other. In eachV compartment is mounted a standard form of tumbling type perforated drying drum a, 2Gb rotatably mounted on trunnions 21a, 21b. Each drum has a generally cylindrical perforated shell 22a and 22h provided with internal ribs 24a, 24b which serve to tumble the clothes. Each drum may be charged with clothes to be dried through a front opening 26a, 2Gb which is closed by a hinged door 28a, 28h of the usual type, mounted on hinges 29a, 29 b and with latches 31a, 31b.

Above the upper drum 20w and within the drying subchamber deilned by the upper portions of the curved baille 12 is mounted a heater 30a which may be steam or gas operated in a manner well-known in the; art.. A similar heater 30b is mounted above the drum 201; within Vthe compartment formed beneath the baille 14.

In the lower portion of theV casing 10 is mounted an exhaust fan assembly arranged to draw air, by the use of a single impeller, through both of the drying drums 20a and 20h. This assembly includes a fan 32 driven by a motor 34 exhausting air through an outlet 36. As seen in the lower portion of Fig. 1, air passing through the upper drum 20m is led between the baille 14 and the right-hand wall of the casing 10 to the wire mesh screen 38a and, as shown in Fig. 3, after passage through the screen, into a chamber 40 defined by the screen and a vertical baille 42, the iloor `44 of the assembly and a wall of the casing 10. In like manner air heated by the heater 30h passing through the drying drum 20b leaves the drying compartment through an opening 46 between an extension of the baille 14 and the baille 18, through the lint collector 38b into the chamber on the left-hand side of the baille 42, as seen in Fig. 3, and thence to the same exhaust fan 32. it will be observed that the screens 38a, 38b, the pan 44 and the wall of the casing 10 form a lint collecting chamber which is divided into right and left lrand independent sub-chambers with sideby-side exhaust outlets to the fan 32.

Preferably, the baille 42, wire mesh lint collecting screens 38a, 38h and the tray or iloor 44 beneath them are removable as a unit from the front of the machine to permit cleaning out of collected lint from time to time. In addition, during operation of the drier, it is desirable more frequently to remove lint from the upper surface of the screens 38a and 38b. For such purpose, I provide a pair of wipers or Scrapers 48a, 48!) which are pressed against and movable across the upper surfaces of the corresponding mesh screens, controlled by the actuating rods 50a, 50b, which Slide in channel irons 52a, 52b, all as best seen in Fig. 3. In order to provide sufficient pressure between the wipers 48a, 48b and the linttcollecting surfaces of the screens 38a and 38h, the wipers are attached by mounting studs 54a, 54h which t slidably in sockets in the corresponding rods 50a, Stlb. Each stud 54a, 54h is surrounded by a coiled spring 56a, 56h which exerts a downward force on the corresponding wiper element, such force being'taken up by the inward surface of each channel iron 52a, 52h, which guide the rods. Periodically, the operator need not pull the rods 50a, 5012 forward, thus wiping the Scrapers 48a, 4311 across the screens 38a, 38h and clearing them of deposited lint. As previously indicated, on occasion it is desirable and possible to removev for cleaning the whole screen baffle assembly when an excessive amount of lint has been collected therein by periodic wiping over a period of time,

Each of the perforated drying drums 29a, 2Gb is driven by an electric motor 60a, dtlb through a chain or belt drive 62a, 62h and suitable gearing 64a, 64b. Optionally, a common drive may be used and, in some cases, it may be desirable to drive the drums by suitable common driving connections from the motor 34 which operat the fan 32.

It will be observed, in the operation of my improved drier, that each drying and tumbling drum is mounted in its own drying compartment and served by its own heater. Thus the heated air entering both drums has substantially the same moisture and heat content, and flows at about the same rate and, in consequence, the drying operation in both units will proceed at approximately the same speed, depending upon the Weight and moisture content of the wet clothes being dried in each of them. Since I do not pass moisture laden air from one drum through the other drum, I assure that the drying operation in both drums will be completed in the least possible time and with greatest eiciency. I

have found that even with one drying drum fully charged with clothes and the other empty the exhaust fan 32 acting upon both drums will draw approximately the samevolume of air per unit of time through each of them. Thus on any occasion when it is not desired to operate one of the units, the other may be operated eiciently Without the other and the heater of the unused drier drum may be turned off.

While I have described a presently preferred embodiment of my novel drying mechanism, it will nevertheless be understood that the same is susceptible of various modifications and changes, all within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A clothes drier unit comprising a casing defining .v

an interior chamber, a baille dividing said chamber into a pair or" separate compartments, a perforate tumbler drum adapted to contain clothes rotatably mounted in each compartment, an air heating unit mounted in each compartment, an air inlet leading from the outside of said casing to each heating unit, each compartment having an exhaust opening, said casing providing a lint collecting chamber, an exhaust conduit connecting each exhaust opening to said lint collecting chamber, a partition dividing said lint collecting chamber into two subchambers, a lint collector disposed in the outlet of each of said conduits, and a common exhaust fan adjacent the end of said partition and extending on both sides thereof for drawing air simultaneously from both of said subchambers and through said separate compartments.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including a movable wiper for cleaning each of said lint collectors.

3. A drier unit comprising a casing, an internal wall dividing said casing into two separate drying compartments, a rotatable perforate tumbler drum adapted to contain clothes mounted for rotation in each of said compartments, each of said compartments having an air inlet duct and an air outlet duct, a lint screen in each of said outlet ducts, partition means dem'ng with said lint screen separate chambers for the air which has passed through said screens, air heating means communicating with said air inlet ducts and an exhaust fan common to said chambers for causing an exhaust of air from both of said compartments at an exhaust rate from each compartment which is independent of the air exhaust rate from the other compartment.

4. A drier unit comprising a casing, internal Wall means dividing said casing into two separate drying cornparunents, a rotatable perforate tumbler drum adapted to contain material to be dried mounted for rotation in each of said compartments, each of said compartments having an air inlet duct and an air exhaust duct, air heating means communicating with said air inlet ducts, said air exhaust ducts having their outlets arranged in sideby-side relation, a lint collector disposed in each of said exhaust ducts and a common exhaust fan communieating with said outlets and extending across both of said lint collectors for causing an exhaust of air through said lint collectors from -both of said compartments at an exhaust rate from each compartment which is independent of the air exhaust rate from the other compartment. K

5. A drier unit in accordance with claim 4 having a separate air heater in each air inlet duct.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 312,592 Wiesebrock Feb. 17, 1885 937,012 Prinz Oct. 12, 1909 1,282,825 Harvey Oct. 29, 1918 1,791,574 Pauly Feb. 10, 1931 2,029,117 Otis Ian. 28, 1936 2,271,757 Boltz Feb. 3, 1942 2,351,429 Huebsch June 13, 1944 2,611,192 Huebsch Sept. 23, 1952 2,687,578 Richterkessing Aug. 3l, 1954 OTHER REFERENCES Cissell Twin Laundry Tumblers, published by Cissell Mfg. Company, Louisville 1, Kentucky, 4 pages. 

